Insufficient balance

  As the ancient saying goes: "Those who want to enter the capital must live in Juyongguan, and the road to Juyongguan must pass through Jiming". The Jiming Post House is 60 miles away from Tuyinbao, and together with Yulin, they form the three major passes that guard the capital.

  Yang Ling and Han Youniang moved out of the mountain den, first to visit her father-in-law who had never met before. Coincidentally, Han Lao Da took his son up the mountain to hunt and hadn't returned yet. Han Youniang knew that the heavy snow would seal off the mountain, and her father wouldn't return for at least ten days or half a month. She informed their neighbor of their move to live in the city, then left with Yang Ling to arrive at Chicken Crowing Post Station.

  In Yang Ling's memory, he had only heard of the name Tumu Fortress. He remembered that a Ming dynasty emperor led an army of 500,000 and was defeated by Esen Khan of the Wala people, becoming one of the few emperors in history to be captured alive. This knowledge came from reading Liang Yusheng's "The Legend of the Condor Hero".

  In his impression, the only places that could be called cities were Xuan De and Da Tong. However, when he actually traveled, he realized how inconvenient the transportation was at that time. Although Jixingyi was a small town, it had all kinds of shops, pawnshops, oil shops, teahouses, and restaurants.

  This is the throat of Beijing and Northwest, with developed commerce and convenient transportation, so it's also very prosperous.

  Yang Ling and Han Youniang rented a small room in the Jiang family's oil mill, with no property left, only carrying more than ten taels of silver on their bodies. Han Youniang wouldn't just sit around and waste their savings, so she did some needlework at a tailor shop on the street.

  Yang Ling also wanted to go out and take a look, see if there was any way to make a fortune. If not, he had to find a job, so that a 15-year-old girl could support him. He really couldn't feel at ease with this situation, but Han Youniang insisted that he stay home and study hard. Yang Ling had no choice but to agree verbally, then when she was not around, he would sneak out and go wandering around everywhere.

  The yamen, the stables, the pawnshop, and the temple - where could he find a suitable job? Yang Ling racked his brains but couldn't think of any way to make a fortune. After wandering around for half a day, he raised his head and saw a small wine shop, went in and ordered three liang of pickled beef and a small jug of kaoliang, savored the flavor, this pure grain brewed kaoliang tasted even better than the good wine he had at the big hotel for over a hundred yuan a bottle.

  Alas, at first glance, those people who travel through time and space really think that if they want to get rich, someone will rush to deliver silver; if they want to be an official, the emperor will immediately cry and beg them to take office; if they want to see beauties, even if they just go out, they can meet two or three beauties. Am I too pathetic?

  Yang Ling reluctantly finished the wine, paid seven cents, walked out of the tavern, and walked on the snowy ground with his hands in his sleeves, making crunching sounds. This city is actually very prosperous, with a large population flow, but you must not imagine it as crowded as it is now, there were absolutely not so many people at that time.

  So this bustling street with shops lining up, the pedestrians coming and going were actually sparse and not many. A sudden loud horseshoe sound came from behind, Yang Ling, who was used to giving way only after hearing a horn, didn't seem to notice and continued walking in the middle of the road. Suddenly, his right shoulder was heavily brushed by something, his body stumbled forward, almost falling to the ground.

  Steadying himself, he turned his head to look around, and a sorrel horse with a high head stood beside him, neighing loudly. A soft voice came from the horse: "Are your ears deaf?"

  "What? You're blaming me after hitting someone?" Yang Ling's anger surged upwards, and as he looked up at the horse, his windproof hat was blown back, revealing a delicate, smooth, and radiant face. His eyebrows were slender and slightly darker near the nose, but thicker and darker towards the back. A pair of bright eyes shone below a nose as shiny as jade, and a small, red mouth like a cherry blossom.

  Yang Ling's eyes lit up, saying "Beautiful woman, beautiful woman", this beauty was indeed the first big beauty he met after arriving in ancient times. Her eyebrows, eyes, and facial features were all so charming, with a delicate nose and cherry lips, she had a truly feminine charm. Looking at her age, she was only 14 or 15 years old, already a beautiful young woman, if she were to grow up some more, it would be even more unbearable?

  The young girl is a beautiful girl, but the heroic spirit between her eyebrows is heavier, and her facial features are not as delicate as she was born. The kind of rustic and simple village girl's temperament can't be compared with this elegant and noble girl. Seeing the extremely charming eyes on the melon face of this girl, one can understand what a fox spirit should look like.

  She wore a man's suit, with a green woolen cloak draped over her shoulders, and a pair of deerskin boots visible below. Her eyebrows were furrowed in anger as she shouted at Yang Ling. When he turned around, she saw that he was wearing a cyan-colored cotton-padded jacket with a long cyan shirt over it. He had a tall and slender build, and although his face looked gentle and refined, his features were quite handsome, especially those eyes which sparkled with spirit. She found him quite pleasing to the eye, and her anger dissipated somewhat.

  "Hey," a man beside him, apparently not as skilled in horse riding as the beautiful girl, suddenly pulled the reins, and the horse's head rose with a long neigh. The horse's hooves trampled the snow, splashing it everywhere. He stood up straight, steadying himself, and shouted loudly: "What's wrong, little sister? Hey, you blind kid, did you bump into my sister?"

  This guy is quite sturdy, wearing a large lapel horse jacket, with a purple felt hat on his head, about twenty years old, with bronze-colored skin, thick eyebrows and big eyes, with an air of majesty, his face full of arrogant air, looking fierce and strong. He rushed up while talking, raised the whip in his hand, and "swish" hit Yang Ling down.

  This man said to hit and hit, extremely violent, Yang Ling dodged in time, fearing that this whip would slap his face, subconsciously raised his hand to block his face. The girl's body leaned forward, her right hand's whip shook forward, the tip of the whip shot out like a straight line, wrapped around her brother's whip with a brush, and pulled it back, so this whip didn't hit down.

  The girl giggled and pressed her legs against the horse's belly, approaching Yang Ling's side. With a smile, she said: "Alright, brother, look at you, a scholar who can't even take a whip? Hehe, don't scare him to death, I'll let you off this time." Her voice was sweet and pleasant, with a hint of teasing kindness.

  Yang Ling put down his hand and raised his head to face her delicate face, that face was as beautiful as a peach blossom. With Yang Ling's experience of nine lifetimes and seeing countless beauties in the visions, he was actually also moved by this naturally charming little beauty, his heart skipped a beat.

  The girl's bright eyes were full of expression, and she seemed to be used to the stunned look on men's faces when they first saw her. When she saw Yang Ling, she was also full of admiration, but she didn't reveal that disgusting lustful expression like those other men did. A hint of a smile floated in her eyes as she gazed deeply at him, then turned to the man and said, "Brother, let's go, we still need to buy gifts." As she spoke, she urged the horse forward with her legs, smiled at Yang Ling and said, "Scholar, make way, don't get trampled again." Amidst her series of giggles, the sorrel horse galloped away, and this girl's horsemanship was truly impressive.

  As the slender figure flashed by, Yang Ling caught a whiff of a faint, extremely high-quality intoxicating fragrance.

  That sturdy man, like a leopard, stared fiercely at Yang Ling and let out a heavy hum, then followed his sister and left. Yang Ling was neither a good fighter nor had the capital to be one, he smiled lightly and saw the two run far away, and continued to walk slowly forward.

  Yang Ling entered the store and wandered around casually, hoping to come up with some ideas for making a fortune. Unfortunately, he couldn't think of anything that would be suitable for ancient people and also utilize modern technology that he was familiar with. Just as he finally thought of sugar gourds, he saw two old men standing on the street corner, carrying poles loaded with sugar gourds.

  Yang Ling sorrowfully thought: "I don't know if the lamb skewers from Western Regions have been introduced to China yet, if not, it might be my only skill that I can show off. But even if I sell lamb skewers, how can I make a fortune? In ancient times, people valued the presentation of food over its taste, otherwise, the three aspects of 'color, fragrance, and flavor' wouldn't have put 'color' as the first priority."

  Even if it were in its own era, mutton skewers wouldn't be considered something that could be served at a high-end banquet. People with status who drink and socialize, who would bother to bring out a few strings of meat to gnaw on? And for those without money, you'd have them spend a single coin to eat just a few pieces of meat, they probably wouldn't even want to spare the expense.

  Think of yourself wearing a blue and white striped long gown, wearing a fake beard standing next to the smoky iron frame, rolling your tongue pretending to be a Uyghur person soliciting customers, while roasting meat skewers. Han Youniang sat in the back with bamboo sticks stringing dead mouse meat, Yang Ling couldn't help but shiver: relying on this can make a fortune in this era? I'd rather die than believe it.

  Helpless, Yang Ling walked into a music store he saw on the way. He happened to see the brother and sister from just now also standing inside. When they saw someone coming in, the girl even turned her head to take a look. Now that Yang Ling had come in, it would be inconvenient for him to leave, otherwise he would inevitably be ridiculed by others for being timid and afraid of trouble.

  The girl had already removed the hairpin from her head, revealing a lovely face with eyebrows and eyes that seemed to be painted on, looking as if they would come alive at any moment. Her hair was styled in three buns, and when she turned her head and saw him, she couldn't help but smile slightly before turning back to tune the ancient zither on the table.

  Yang Ling didn't understand the instrument, but it wasn't convenient to see someone and then turn around and leave, so he pretended to pick up a flute and looked at it, his eyes secretly glancing at the girl.

  The girl was looking down at the guqin, and judging from its appearance, it was indeed a fine piece of work among guqins. It had an ancient color, with a luster that seemed like gold but wasn't gold, and the grain was very delicate. The material used was high-quality old paulownia wood.

  The girl's eyes showed a look of surprise, and she stretched out her slender fingers to gently press the strings. Suddenly, a pleasant melody filled the room. "Hehe, the tone is not bad," the girl said with joy, plucking the first string with one finger, and the majestic and tragic melody filled the entire room.

  "Good zither, boss, how much is this zither?" The sixty-year-old boss smiled slyly and said: "Miss has a good eye for things, this zither is an antique from the previous dynasty. If you like it, I'll let you take it away for twenty taels of silver."

  The girl opened her small mouth in surprise and said: "Twenty taels? This qin is not bad, but twenty taels are a bit expensive. I think... it's only worth about ten taels."